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"The face of the operation is Briatore (referred to exclusively in the film by his colleagues and angry, chanting detractors as "Flavio"), an anthropomorphic radish who spends most of his time at QPR plotting to fire all of the managers."

At press time, Harbaugh had sent Michigan’s athletic department an envelope containing a heavily annotated seating chart, a list of the 63,000 seat views he had found unsatisfactory, and a glowing 70-page report on section 25, row 12, seat 9, which he claimed is “exactly what the great sport of football is all about.”

The trick is to balance talent and loyalty. So far Belein has had a fair amount of attrition to the NBA, with Manny Harris and Darius Morris and it's fairly obvious that Hardaway and Burke will more than likely go next year.

I would still rather have Beilein shoot for the top and have some attrition than recruit only consensus 3 stars.

It is an interesting trend. Michigan has not really gotten a "up-transfer" in a while, but many of the other big ten teams have including Penn State, Illinois, Northwestern, and Michigan State. Very few of the 5th year transfers or up-transfers have wild success, but players like Brandon Wood and Sam Maniscalco can provide stability and maturity minus growing pains of freshmen.

I don't see the phenomenon as a huge problem, but it definitely helps the 'rich get richer' and can impede small schools' program growth. And plus, for every Brandon Wood, there's 10 Nate Wolters and Isaiah Canaan who give their loyalty to their program.

I'm not too impressed by Morris' play thus far. Although he had a very nice game yesterday (9-9 shooting), he has played 4 games, and his shooting numbers have been less than superb. He has shot 3-11, 5-15, 4-17, and 9-9 from the field thus far, and his 3 point percentage is quite low.

Hopefully, Morris can use yesterday as a springboard for more success and help his team win a game finally!

History is on Deshawn Sims' side. He was selected to be NBDL rookie of the year in 2010, and of the NBDL rookies of the year, 9 of the 11 have played in the NBA for at least a stint. Some have made pretty nice careers out of it (Will Bynum, Louis Amundson, Alonzo Gee, Devin Brown).

The biggest difference I see between how Michigan matches up this next year vs. the past few years is Michigan's increased athleticism. All due respect to Zack Novak and Stu Douglass, but it will be nice to have Mitch McGary, Nick Stauskas, and GRIII (in addition to the very athletic Burke and Hardaway) match up with MSU's athleticism.

I don't want Harris to go to training camp with the Pistons. The Pistons just drafted Kim English and Khris Middleton in the second round, and have Vyacheslav Kravstov and Kyle Singler coming over from Europe. This means that, (including Andre Drummond), the Pistons will have 15-16 players heading into next season (depending of course if the Pistons amnesty Charlie Villanueva and if they bring back Vernon Macklin).

Granted he played on a pretty atrocious team, but Harris increased his scoring average, even after the adversity due to the weird injury. I think he'll get a spot on another team, but he'll likely need to earn his roster spot the hard way just like his first two years.

Sidenote: After seeing Danny Green start on the dominant San Antonio Spurs, how impressive is it that Harris beat out Green for the initial spot on the Cavs?

I tried to keep a balanced perspective reading the article. Of the white players on the team, John Stockton and Larry Bird were clearly elite players. Like even Whitlock conceded, Laettner took a spot reserved for a college player, and quite frankly, Laettner was the most dominant college player.

I will concede with Whitlock that Mullin was a terrible pick. Whether race was involved or not, how can one determine that? Such a difficult thing to prove one way or another. Either way, I've always thought that Chris Mullin is overrated.

Good draft overall, nbadraft.net gave the Pistons an A. Another thing to keep in mind is that last year's second round pick Kyle Singler is coming to play next year. It'll be interesting to see who of Kim English, Khris Middleton, Kyle Singler, and Vernon Macklin make the team.

I'm a Michigan football fan, and like everyone, I think it's cool that these players are pursuing their hobbies outside football. I'm not trying to hate on them, I just think this music is average/below average if we're looking at anything beyond Michigan football/fan circles.

I think the latest example of this (and perhaps the impetus for Bilas' article) is Jarrod Uthoff from Wisconsin. Talented kid from Iowa, transfers after freshman year, and Bo Ryan has a gargantuan block list that includes all Big Ten teams (that makes sense), Marquette, Iowa State, and ALL ACC teams. Glad Beilein seemed to give Smotrycz room to run.

Interesting that these guys retreat when there's a starting position opening for both the SG and PF/C position. Sibert would've had a definite chance to start next year with Buford's graduation, and Weatherspoon could've definitely competed for Sullinger's starting spot. Also, both guys are from Ohio and Weatherspoon is from Columbus. Wonder where they'll go.

I think he's got the Big 10 all wrong. I just don't see a Draymond-less MSU and a Jordan Taylor-less Wisco being that high. I think Northwestern, Minnesota and Iowa are vastly underrated, with pretty strong returning casts. Also, I don't see Purdue making the tourney. 4 of their top 6 scorers are gone next year including superman Robbie Hummel.

Not sure that Maryland is the best spot for him. If you look at Maryland's depth chart, he could have some problems entering the rotation. Maryland's recruiting class of 2012 features 4 players who are between 6'8 and 6'9, (3 of whom are on Rivals' top 100). Jake Layman, who is the #70 prospect, has a very similar skill set to Smotrycz as well. There's also current freshmen Alex Len and Ashton Pankey, who are also talented big men. By the time Smotrycz becomes eligible in 2013-2014, the rotation may not have an opening for him.

Interesting final 2. I'm kind of surprised that Smot isn't considering Providence more. With Mike Jackson, and two top 15 recruits coming in (Kris Dunn and Ricardo Ledo), good things seem to be happening there. And it's close to home for him.

I like the fact that Stauskas has inched his way up the rankings. Any time I can say that Michigan's 3rd best highest recruit is #71 is a good year. For reference, previous to this year, Evan Smotrycz is the only recruit who was ranked higher than #71 (according to rivals).

I like the fact that Stauskas has inched his way up the rankings. Any time I can say that Michigan's 3rd best highest recruit is #71 is a good year. For reference, previous to this year, Evan Smotrycz is the only recruit who was ranked higher than #71 (according to rivals).

I can't speak for other fans of Akunne, but I guess I'm just responding against the automatic assumption that Albrecht will be the #2 point guard. Eso, like him or not, has been the part of 3 big ten teams, going to head to head with Burke and Morris in practice. Eso is also a few inches taller than Albrecht. I don't think it's that absurd to think that Akunne could get second string point guard duty.

Why does everyone assume that Spike Albrecht will be ahead of Akunne? Akunne, before he got hurt, was shooting great, and he is more comfortable in John Beilein's complicated offense. I think he'll see more minutes than Albrecht.

This is the first time that I've caught the Tigers this year, and WOW I am impressed. Our lineup is dangerous 1-9, and Jackson seems to really have developed. Gotta love Fielder and Cabrera, power hitters who can still find the infield holes.

He plays some tough defense; great lateral speed. Shows a toughness that I think would make him a fan favorite in Ann Arbor. Seems to have a smooth offensive game as well, he could be a really great player.

A few of my buddies are on the TedX UofM "Music for Ideas Vol. 2" album. There are a lot of talented, aspiring musicians in Ann Arbor and I'm glad the TedX stage is allowing them exposure. Check out "Nothing's the Matter" by fthrsn in particular. Album is free to download.

After Darius Morris' and Manny Harris' exits into second-round 'stardom,' I understand your skepticism. But you have to analyze each situation on its own, and I respect Trey's desire to do what's best for him. All cool heads have said that Trey should go back to school, so we just have to hope that Trey is listening to those people.

I think Darius Morris had a much stronger case to leave Ann Arbor early because he was drawing more first-round buzz. Unless Trey really hates Beilein's system or just wants to go to the NBA, then I think he'll end up coming back.

This Ohio squad was made for upsets. Walter Offutt was a top-100 ranked player coming out of high school, and DJ Cooper is an experienced stud. They beat Georgetown two years ago and many of the same guys from that team are still on this Ohio squad. Most of all, they played aggressive and smart. Hats off indeed.